Runes and Relics

by Kay L. Ling

Elias smiled. “All the more room for us.”

  Parcune and Kaff jumped down and Parcune called, “We’re ready when you are.”

  Elias made his speech standing on the passenger cart. “I can’t tell you how long it will take to reach the barrier, nor do I know what we’ll find there, but I suspect it will be an invisible energy barrier like the one between this world and the Fair Lands. We should be able to see what lies on the other side. I’ll use gems to assess the nature and strength of the repelling force, but we’re not likely to break through during this trip. Consider this a fact-finding mission, the first step toward reclaiming your homeland. We must all work as a team. And now,” he said, spreading his arms, “let’s be on our way.”

  Ben and Tina Ann gave a hoot of excitement, and Jules and the gnomes whistled and clapped.

  Parcune cracked the reins, and the passenger cart started out. Jules looked back at the supply cart. Ben was beaming with pride, and Tina Ann leaned close to him with a sappy smile on her face.

  Jules thought back to the party after the brontskeller hunt. Ben, sporting his bandaged leg, had gotten plenty of female attention. They had tripped over themselves bringing him food and refilling his drink. Jules had little doubt that by the end of this journey a romance would develop between Ben and Tina Ann. If it hadn’t already.

  Elias’s ancient map proved a reliable guide. They followed an eastward route toward Traitor’s Ridge and Last Hope, and to Jules’s surprise, many of the old roads still existed, but they were narrow, rutted, and full of holes. Apparently, generations of miners had hauled gems and ore over these roads, and breghlin workers made sure they were passable.

  They drove through forested land most of the morning, and then came to a region where the ground was too dry and stony to support much except weeds and scrub brush. The large, gray boulders reminded Jules of the pythanium feeding grounds between Shadowglade and the Fair Lands portal, and he watched nervously as they rode thorough. S’s monsters were gone, but there was no telling what else lived here.

  The road plunged back into dense forest later. So little light filtered through the canopy of leaves, it gave a twilight effect. Many of the trees were a different variety than Jules had seen around Shadowglade. Some had shaggy, peeling bark, and long, thin leaves like willow trees in the Fair Lands. Others had trunks with fist-sized knots. These Jules found more than a little disconcerting since the knots moved, giving the impression that they were either alive themselves or harbored some kind of creature inside. Jules watched the trees with the moving knots warily and noticed that Elias and Kaff did too, though no one seemed willing to talk about them.

  It was only after they had passed out of this part of the forest and the sun was slanting through familiar types of trees, that Kaff said, “Did you see those trees with the huge knots? The knots seemed to be moving, but I hoped it was my imagination.”

  “I saw it too,” Elias admitted. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “What do you suppose they were—those lumps?” Kaff asked.

  “I have no idea,” Elias said, “and we may find other things just as strange before this trip is over.”

  The road wound through a series of hills covered with prickly weeds. Rocky outcroppings occasionally rose above the weeds, and green lizards with tan and brown markings on their backs lay on them, basking in the sun. S had often turned gnomes and breghlin who offended her into various creatures, giant rats and lizards being particular favorites, so the sight of a lizard, even a normal sized-one that wasn’t grotesquely deformed, gave Jules an uncomfortable feeling.

  After several hours of bone-jarring travel, featuring a number of curious and unsettling sights, Jules was anxious to call it a day and make camp. Elias had marked a place on the map where he intended to stop, and when they arrived, they found a shallow stream, perfect for watering the maraku and taking a bath. Not long ago, the stream had probably been a dry, stony bed.

  Jules pocketed the pouch of gems Elias had given him. To make use of otherwise wasted time, Elias planned to give Jules and Kaff gem lessons on the road. Jules was looking forward to learning more about Ahmonellian gems and infusing their powers. Most native gems had one impressive power, whereas Fair Lands gems often had a handful that were all relatively minor.

  Everyone climbed down from the carts and stretched aching muscles. There were no trees for shade, but the sun would be going down soon. The splash of water over stones, and the soft drone of insects, put Jules immediately at ease. This seemed like an ideal spot to spend the night.

  “There’s no wood for a cooking fire, but we have cheese, jerky, vegetables, and bread,” Elias said to Jules. “I tried to bring food everyone would eat. No doubt we’ll be tired of jerky in a few days.”

  “We can hunt game and supplement our diet with local plants. We’ll make do.”

  Parcune and Kaff started hauling canvas and poles off the cart, and the breghlin predictably made a beeline for the beer keg and food supplies.

  “I’ll unhitch the maraku, and we can take them down to the stream,” Jules told Elias.

  Elias watched the gnomes for a moment. “If Kaff and Parcune haven’t gotten the tent up by the time we get back, we’ll help, and then we’ll have dinner.”

  Jules wasn’t sure what gnomes knew about erecting a tent since they lived in caves or trees, but when he and Elias returned from the stream, the A-frame was up. Kaff, Ben, and Tina Ann were adding more tie downs and tightening ropes while Parcune, hands on hips, supervised. Ben looked a bit surly, probably disgruntled about taking orders from Parcune, but he wasn’t complaining, and Tina Ann looked happy just to be with Ben.

  “That should do it,” Parcune said. “Now, set that board over there on top of those kegs, and we’ll have a fine table. He indicated the board that kept things from falling off the back of the supply cart.

  Kaff obediently went to get the board, and Ben and Tina Ann rolled the kegs closer to the tent and stood them on end.

  Yesterday, Jules had hastily constructed six folding campstools so the team wouldn’t have to sit on the ground. He set three on either side of the makeshift table.

  Ben and Tina Ann helped themselves to beer. Jules, Elias, and the gnomes poured cups of fialazza, and everyone filled their plates with food.

  “Bronstskeller jerky,” Tina Ann said approvingly, chewing the rubbery meat.

  “You’re welcome to it,” Jules said, grimacing. Good thing breghlin didn’t mind eating the castle’s former moat monsters. There was none too much venison jerky, and when it ran out they might all be eating brontskeller.

  “Our Ben is quite the hunter,” Elias said, munching on a carrot. “I trust he’ll treat us to some fresh game along the way.”

  Ben sat a little taller, and Tina Ann, across from him, caught his eye and smiled.

  “I’ll be teaching my hunting skills to young Kaff,” Parcune said in a self-important tone. “Leave it to us. There will be no lack of fresh game.”

  Elias gave Jules a speaking glance. “Well, it looks like we’re in good hands, Jules. With so many fine hunters, we won’t need to lift a finger.”

  “There’s not much to hunt around here unless you like insects,” Jules said, shooing away pesky gnats. A dragonfly alighted on the table and then darted off toward the stream.

  Ben picked something off the ground and held it up—a large brown beetle with white stripes. “These be good,” he said, and popped the beetle into his mouth, crunching audibly.

  Kaff made a gagging noise and bolted from the table.

  Jules cut a piece of cheese from the wedge and pretended he didn’t see Ben pick up another bug and hand it to Tina Ann. Breghlin, like their former mistress, enjoyed a variety of disgusting things from bugs to rotting fruit. Would they ever change their eating habits?

  After dinner, Jules went to get the remaining bedrolls, which were still on the ground by the supply cart. Everyone had a different color so there would be no confusion. The breghlin’s were gray
and tan and had a rank smell that made him hesitant to pick them up. Muttering under his breath, he carried them to the tent and then wiped his hands on his pants.

  There was no privacy in an eight-by-twelve tent. The breghlin would sleep in back, he and Elias in the middle, and the gnomes in front. That meant he’d be crawling over sleeping bodies to get out, but it was best to separate the gnomes and breghlin as much as possible. If there were trees nearby, the gnomes could take Elias and him inside for the night, but breghlin couldn’t enter a Tree Home, and they would feel excluded. Furthermore, outside alone, there would be little protection from prowling animals. As Elias had said, they were a team, and a team should stay together.

  When Jules came out of the tent, Ben and Tina Ann were walking down to the stream. Parcune and Elias were still sitting at the table, nursing their fialazza, absorbed in conversation. Kaff sat on the ground a little way off, looking bored.

  The sun was going down quickly, tinting passing bands of clouds faintly pink. Jules felt like being alone. He wandered back to the carts and checked the maraku, which he had tied to iron stakes in the ground. They snuffed at his hand when he reached to pet their shaggy heads, and their ears twitched when he spoke to them.

  Breghlin laughter carried on the breeze. Ben and Tina Ann were splashing through the stream, whooping and shrieking like playful children. Running water was a novelty since there were no streams near the castle. Breghlin might not like baths, but apparently, they didn’t mind wading.

  Still feeling relaxed from the fialazza, Jules sat on the back of the cart and watched the sunset, enjoying the sound of flowing water and the insect symphony. This was the farthest he’d been from Shadowglade, and he was amazed at the variety of sights they had seen so far. Now that the blight had ended and plants and trees were recovering, this land might rival the Fair Lands for beauty someday.

  This world held painful memories for Jules, but so did the Fair Lands. Every time he went there it reminded him of the family and friends he’d lost while he was Sheamathan’s wolfhound. Time had moved on without him, and if he tried to live there now, he would find it difficult to catch up.

  The sky was growing dark when Ben and Tina Ann finally trudged up the grassy slope with mud up to their knees, still laughing boisterously. Jules pushed himself off the cart as they approached. Tina Ann was holding the hem of her tunic with both hands, like a carrying pouch. She called excitedly, “Gem Master Jules. Look at this!”

  What could she have found? Probably something with rows of sharp teeth.

  They stopped a few feet away, dripping wet, muddy, and utterly unconcerned what they looked like. Sometimes he envied breghlin that. Tina Ann’s face lit in a broad smile. “Foun’ these in the stream.”

  He looked down. The stones in her tunic looked like gemstone rough. Most were white with embedded chunks of green crystalline material. Two were pink flecked with gray, and one was yellow ochre.

  “The yellow one be bad, but we brung it anyway,” Tina Ann announced.

  “Bad?” Jules asked.

  She gave him an impatient look. “You know. Dark powers. But I don’t feel nothin’ bad off the other ones.”

  He still found it hard to believe she could sense evil. It was a strange gift, and he wondered how reliable it was. He reached for the yellow ochre stone. He wouldn’t draw its power—just touch it to see if it really was a Dark gem.

  It didn’t give him the unpleasant, queasy sensation that marked it as a malevolent gem. Not that he had a lot of experience, but he had touched a few. So, Tina Ann must be mistaken.

  “I don’t feel any dark powers,” he said. Tina Ann continued to look worried. “Whatever this gem does, it can’t be harmful.”

  “But I—”

  “Anyone can make a mistake,” he said firmly.

  “Better ask Elias,” Ben muttered, clearly unconvinced.

  Jules ignored him, feeling annoyed and a little offended. What ability did this gem hold? He was increasingly curious. Elias had given him several native gems today, but nothing that looked like this one. He drew the gem’s power and immediately felt the stone grow warm.

  Hopelessness and depression bore down on him. He hated his life. He had lost his best years while he was enchanted, and now he would never amount to anything. Why had he been born? Life was nothing but endless, unbearable suffering. Death would be a welcome release. He let out a sob of despair, his whole body trembling.

  Far away, he heard someone calling his name, but he was too depressed to care. He was stupid and worthless—always had been. Why would anyone want to talk to him?

  Suddenly the oppressive gloom lifted. He blinked, disoriented.

  Two terrified breghlin faces stared up at him. Ben was holding the yellow ochre stone.

  “I be sorry,” Tina Ann said shakily, “but we had to take it away from you.”

  “It be an evil stone,” Ben said, frowning. “No matter what you say.” He dropped it into Tina Ann’s tunic and wiped his hands on his pants. “Shoulda took it straight to Gem Master Elias.”

  Jules blinked back tears, still trembling. Crying in front of breghlin—how embarrassing. He should have believed Tina Ann and not drawn the gem’s power, but they had questioned him when he said it wasn’t Dark, and he had foolishly tried to prove them wrong. And yet, perhaps there was more to it. It was as if the gem had enticed him to tap its power. Maybe in return it drew energy from him, feeding on his despair and depression. All at once he did feel queasy. “Let’s show these to Elias,” he said, sweat breaking out on his forehead.

  The breghlin took off at a trot, and he trailed well behind, hoping his supper would stay down. He had heard about gems like this. Negative energy gems. A skilled gem master could project the destructive emotions onto others and avoid the negative effects himself. Long ago, when Elias had first come here, he had done exactly that, using gnomes as test subjects in his experiments. They had felt weak and sick afterward, but Elias had escaped the side effects that Jules was experiencing now.

  Kaff and Parcune were sitting with Elias when the breghlin rattled off their story of finding gems in the streambed. Tina Ann said she had shown the gems to Jules, but mercifully didn’t expand on that, and then dumped the gems onto the table. “Watch out for the yellow one. I can tell it be an evil gem,” she warned.

  “What would you know about evil gems?” Parcune sputtered. “You don’t have gem powers. I lack the gift myself, but Jules, Elias, and young Kaff can tell you if a gem is evil or not.”

  Tina Ann glared at Parcune, and then looked at Jules, as if expecting him to come to her defense.

  “Ah, um,” Jules began, not wanting to admit he had used the gem. “Tina Ann is right. The yellow one is evil.”

  “It certainly is,” Elias said decisively.

  Parcune wilted under Tina Ann’s renewed glare.

  “What does it do?” Jules asked, even though he knew all too well.

  “It’s a negative energy stone that causes depression and despair. Hold it long enough and you’ll become suicidal. We’ll leave it here when we go.”

  Feigning a casual interest, Jules asked, “Does holding it—not drawing its powers, but just holding it—leave any lingering effects?”

  Jules was sweating profusely, and his hands were still trembling. Elias gave him a look that said it was pointless to pretend innocence. “Nothing of consequence.” Elias gestured at the empty campstool beside him. “Have a seat.”

  Jules sat, leaning his arms on the table and clasping his hands to hide their shaking. Elias casually reached over, laid his hand on Jules’s arm, and the queasiness faded.

  “The other gemstones are beneficial stones,” Elias said, looking at the rest. “The white stone with the green crystals is called docina. The pink ones are feridium. They’re often found together in the same rock strata. Docina brings good health to gnomes and breghlin, and longevity to humans.”

  “Is that how you—” Jules began.

  “Yes. Thanks to doc
ina, I’m still alive and healthy.” Elias showed everyone a green gem in one of his bracelets. “This is high-grade docina that’s been cut and polished.”

  Jules picked up a specimen from the table.

  “Add that to your pouch of gems,” Elias told him. “Use it daily, and maybe you’ll live as long as me.”

  “What does feridium do?” Jules asked.

  “It calms while heightening the senses. Does that sound familiar?” Elias picked up his cup of fialazza and smiled.

  “You mean . . ..”

  “Exactly,” Elias said and took a sip. “Apart from the berries, fialazza gets its distinctive red color from ground feridium.”

  Parcune spoke up, “You don’t need gem powers to benefit—you just need to ingest it.”

  “It’s an unusual gem in that regard,” Elias agreed. “Those of us with gem powers can hold the stone and draw its power, but gnomes, breghlin, and humans without gem powers can get limited effects by consuming it.”

  Jules picked up a feridium and drew its power. The effect was swift and intense, far more powerful than drinking a cup of fialazza. His senses sharpened, and he was hyperaware of his surroundings. The flowing stream and insect noise sounded much louder, and he could distinguish the scents of various grasses and weeds. And, unfortunately, his companions’ body odors. He was so grateful to be feeling better now, he wouldn’t complain about unpleasant odors.

  “Thank you for these gemstones,” Elias said kindly to Tina Ann. “If you find any more, bring them straight to me.” He gave Jules a pointed look, and then turned back to Tina Ann and Ben. “I’ll note on my map that we found gems in this stream.”

  Parcune turned away and sat with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at the creek with a slight frown, as if annoyed that a lowly breghlin had discovered the gems.

  Kaff eyed Tina Ann with new interest. “So, you knew the yellow one was evil.”

  “Elias says it be a gift,” Tina Ann said proudly.

  Parcune muttered something Jules couldn’t make out, then stood and made a show of stretching, followed by a loud yawn. “Guess I’ll turn in.”